Method for selectively growing a conductive film to fill a contact hole

ABSTRACT

Semiconductor device and method for manufacturing the same prevent the spread of a tungsten film out of an opening portion of a contact hole when the tungsten is grown in the contact hole and avoid inferior wiring shape and inter-wiring shirt-circuit. After a titanium/titanium nitride film is formed along an inner surface of the contact hole, a photo-resist film is applied. Then, the photo-resist film is etched away until a distance from an upper end of the contact hole to the surface of photo-resist film is not smaller than one-half of a width of the contact hole when the titanium/titanium nitride film is formed. After the titanium/titanium nitride film is etched by using the photo-resist as a mask, the photo-resist film is removed and a tungsten layer is selectively grown by using the titanium/titanium nitride film as a seed.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser.No. 08/745,274, filed Nov. 8, 1996, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,204,561, issuedJan. 23, 2001.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to semiconductor device and method formanufacturing the same by selectively forming a metal thin film on asemiconductor substrate as a contact plug.

2. Description of the Related Art

As the high integration and microminiaturization of a semiconductordevice have recently been promoted, a multi-layer wiring technologybecomes essential. In order to accomplish the multi-layer wiringstructure, a device region of a MOS or bipolar transistor and the metalwire, or a Plurality of metal wires must be interconnected through aninsulation film.

In the past, in order to conduct such wiring, a desired contact hole isformed in the insulation film and a metal wire is buried in the contacthole simultaneously with the formation of an upper layer metal wire.However, recently, a diameter of the contact hole is in the order ofsub-micron and an aspect ratio of the contact hole formed in theinsulation layer is larger than unity. The aspect ratio is defined as aratio of a depth to a diameter of the opening. As the aspect ratioincreases, the metal wire does not fully go into the contact hole andpositive connection may not be attained.

In order to avoid the above problem, a tungsten selective growth methodas disclosed in JP-A-4-25159 has been proposed.

The wiring formation method of the above patent application is brieflyexplained. First, an insulation film is formed on a semiconductorsubstrate and a contact hole is formed in the insulation film. Arelatively thin metal silicide film is formed on an entire surface of asemiconductor substrate as a seed for selective growth and then aphoto-resist film is formed on the semiconductor substrate, and then thephoto-resist film and the metal silicide film are etched back to keepthe metal silicide film only within the contact hole. After thephoto-resist film remaining in the contact hole is removed, a tungstenfilm is selectively grown in the contact hole by using the metalsilicide as the seed. Thus, a wiring layer including the tungsten filmwhich is fully fills the contact hole is formed. Since the tungsten filmis hard to be formed on the insulation film, the metal silicide film isformed as the seed for the selective growth.

However, in the method of the above patent publication, since the metalsilicide film remains at the opening portion of the contact hole (anupper edge of the contact hole), when the tungsten film is selectivelygrown in the contact hole by using the metal silicide film as the seedand the contact hole is filled with the tungsten film, the tungsten filmalso grows from the opening portion of the contact hole and the tungstenfilm spreads out of the opening portion of the contact hole. As aresult, when the metal wiring is formed on the tungsten film spread outof the opening portion of the contact hole, inferior wiring shape orinter-wiring short-circuit may occur.

JP-A-5-283536 discloses a manufacturing method which preventstitanium/titanium nitride on an inner wall of a contact hole from beingetched by misalignment when a conductive film formed on the contact holeis etched to form the wiring.

This method is briefly explained. After the titanium/titanium nitride issputtered on the inner wall of the contact hole formed in an interlayerinsulation film on a semiconductor substrate, tungsten is vapor-grown tofill the contact hole. Then, the surface of the interlayer insulationfilm is exposed by dry etching and only the titanium/titanium nitride isselectively etched to form a groove. After a silicon oxide film isvapor-grown to fill the groove, the surface of the tungsten is exposedby dry etching and a conductive film is sputtered thereon. Theconductive film is dry etched by using a photo-resist as a mask tocomplete the wiring.

In this method, however, an area of the contact is substantially reducedby the thickness of the silicon oxide film and a higher accuracy isrequired in positioning when the wiring is formed on the contact hole.On the other hand, if the contact hole is enlarged accordingly, it isagainst the high integration of the semiconductor device. Further, aprocess to vapor grow the silicon oxide and a process to expose thesurface of the tungsten by the dry etching are required and it makes themanufacturing process of the semiconductor device complex.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide semiconductor deviceand method for manufacturing the same which do not make a manufacturingprocess of the semiconductor device complex and do not cause inferiorwiring shape or short-circuit of wiring when the semiconductor devicesare highly integrated.

In order to achieve the above object, according to the presentinvention, the method for manufacturing a semiconductor device having aninsulation film comprises the steps of forming a contact hole in theinsulation film, forming a first conductive film on an entire surfaceincluding an inner surface of the contact hole, applying a film forfilling the contact hole, etching the applied film until a distance froman opening portion of the contact hole to a surface of the applied filmis not smaller than one-half of a width of the contact hole less twiceof a thickness of the first conductive film while the applied filmremains at a bottom of the contact hole, etching the first conductivefilm by using the applied film as a mask, removing the remaining appliedfilm, and selectively growing a second conductive film to fill thecontact hole by using the first conductive film remaining on the innersurface of the contact hole as a seed for the selective growth.

According to the present invention, the semiconductor device comprises asemiconductor substrate, an insulation film formed on said semiconductorsubstrate and having a contact hole, a first conductive film formed onan inner surface of said contact hole, a distance from an openingportion of said contact hole to an upper end of said first conductivefilm being not smaller than one-half of a width of said contact holeless twice of a thickness of said first conductive film and a secondconductive film formed on said first conductive film to fill saidcontact hole.

In accordance with the present invention, in order to etch away thefirst conductive film (barrier layer) which serves as a seed for theselective growth of the second conductive film (plug) above the contacthole until a predetermined condition is met, the filling of the contacthole is completed before the second conductive film spreads out of theupper edge of the contact hole when the second conductive film isselectively grown in the contact hole.

When a plurality of contact holes of different widths are present, thefirst conductive film is etched away above the contact hole such thatthe predetermined condition is met for the widest contact hole. Thus,when the second conductive film is grown in the contact hole, the secondconductive film does not spread out of the upper edge of any of thecontact holes.

Further, since the first or second conductive film is fully filled inthe contact hole, the entire area may be used as the contact and thehigh integration of the semiconductor device is not prevented.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1A˜1C show sectional views for illustrating a principle of thesemiconductor device and the manufacturing method thereof according tothe present invention; and

FIGS. 2A˜2E show sectional views for illustrating sequential processesof the semiconductor device and the manufacturing method thereofaccording to the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

First, referring to FIGS. 1A˜1C, a principle of the semiconductor deviceand the manufacturing method thereof according to the present inventionis explained.

In FIG. 1A, distances from opening portions (upper ends) of contactholes 21 and 22 to the tops of a barrier layer 23, respectively, are Mfor the narrow contact hole 21 and the wider contact hole 22. Thenarrower contact hole 21 has a width X when the barrier layer 23 isformed, and the distance M from the upper end of the contact hole 21 tothe top of the barrier layer 23 is larger than a length L which isone-half of the width X. The wider contact hole 22 has a width Y whenthe barrier layer 23 is formed, the distance M from the upper end of thecontact hole 22 to the top of the barrier layer 23 is larger than alength N which is one-half of the width Y.

As shown in FIG. 1B, when plugs 24 are partially formed in the contactholes 21 and 22, the barrier layer 23 serves as a seed for the selectivegrowth of the plug 24, and since the growth rates are same, distancesfrom the upper ends of the contact holes 21 and 22 to the top of theplug 24, respectively, are P. Since the contact hole 21 is narrower thanthe contact hole 22, the plugs 24 grown from the barrier layers 23 onthe opposite sides of the connection layer 21 contact together and areintegrated around a center before the contact hole 21 is entirelyfilled. Thereafter, the plug 24 growths upward substantially uniformlyfor the contact hole 21.

As shown in FIG. 1C, as to the contact hole 22, the plugs grown from thebarrier layers 23 on the opposite sides contact each other and areintegrated around the center when the contact hole 22 is fully filled.At this time, the plug 24 of the contact hole 21 also fully fills thecontact hole 21, and the plug 24 does not spread out of the upper end ofthe contact hole 21 or 22.

When a plurality of contact holes 21 and 22 of different widths arepresent, the distance from the top of the barrier layer 23 to theopening portion (upper end) of the contact hole is set to be larger thanthe predetermined length for the widest contact hole 22 so that the plug24 does not spread out of the opening portion (upper end) of any of thecontact holes 21 and 22 when the plug 24 is selectively grown in thecontact holes 21 and 22.

Referring to FIGS. 2A˜2E, an embodiment of the present invention isexplained in detail.

FIGS. 2A˜2E show sectional views for illustrating processes of thesemiconductor device and the manufacturing method thereof according tothe present invention. As shown in FIG. 2A, a gate electrode (not shown)of a MOS transistor comprising a poly-crystalline silicon film includingimpurities is formed in a device forming area of a semiconductorsubstrate 1 through a gate insulation layer (not shown), and then a pairof impurity layers (one of which is shown by 2 and the other is notshown in the sectional views of FIG. 2A) which serve as a source and adrain are formed by ion implantation into a surface of the semiconductorsubstrate 1 on the opposite sides of the gate electrode. Then, aninterlayer insulation film 3 comprising an oxide silicon film or a BPSG(boro-phospho silicate glass) film, a PSG (phospho-silicate glass) filmor a BSG (boro-silicate glass) film is formed on an entire surface ofthe semiconductor substrate 1 and a contact hole (not shown) whichextends through the interlayer insulation film 3 and has other impuritydoped layer (not shown) as a bottom is formed and then a metal wiringlayer 4 which fills an inner surface of the contact hole ispattern-formed.

Then, an impurity containing fusing glass such as a BPSG film, a PSGfilm or a BSG film is formed on the semiconductor substrate 1, and asurface is flattened. A contact hole 31 which extends through theimpurity containing fusing glass 5 and the interlayer insulation film 3and has the impurity doped layer 2 as a bottom is formed, and a contacthole 32 which extends through the impurity containing fusing glass 5 andhas the metal wiring layer 4 as a bottom is formed. In those two contactholes 31 and 32, the depth of the contact hole 31 is deeper than thedepth of the contact hole 32 by the thickness of the interlayerinsulation film 3 and the metal wiring layer 4. A diameter of thecontact hole 31 is 0.6 μm (600 nm) and a diameter of the contact hole 32is 0.4 μm (400 nm). Then, a titanium film and a titanium nitride filmare sequentially formed on the surface of the semiconductor substrate 1including the contact holes 31 and 32 by a sputtering method to form atitanium/titanium nitride stacked layer 6 having a film thickness ofapproximately 100 nm at the upper surface. The titanium/titanium nitridestacked thin film 6 is formed along the unevenness of the contact holesto prevent the contact holes 31 and 32 from being filled. Thereafter, aphoto-resist film 7 is applied to the film thickness of approximately1.5 μm as a flattening layer.

As shown in FIG. 2B, after the photo-resist layer is baked atapproximately 200° C., the photo-resist layer 7 is etched back by oxygenplasma to an upper surface of the impurity containing fusing glass 5 andthe inside of the contact holes 31 and 32. It is designed such that thephoto-resist film 7 remains at the bottoms of the contact holes 31 and32 and the distance from the upper end of the contact hole 31 to thesurface of the photo-resist film 7 is not smaller than one-half of thewidth of the connection layer when the titanium/titanium nitride stackedlayer 6 is formed, and preferably ⅝˜⅞ and more preferably approximately¾ when variations in the manufacturing process are taken intoconsideration. Thus, for the contact hole 32 which is narrower than thecontact hole 31, the distance from the upper end of the contact hole 32to the surface of the photo-resist film 7 is naturally not smaller thanone-half of the width of the contact hole 32 when the titanium/titaniumnitride stacked thin film 6 is formed. In the present embodiment, sincethe thickness of the titanium/titanium nitride stacked thin films 6 onthe sides of the contact holes 31 and 32 is 50 nm, the etching is madesuch that the distance (depth) from the upper ends of the contact holes31 and 32 to the surface of the photo-resist film 7 is not smaller than(600−50×2)/2=250 nm, and preferably 400 nm.

Thereafter, the titanium/titanium nitride stacked thin film 6 on theimpurity containing fusing glass 5 and on the inner surfaces of thecontact holes 31 and 32 which are not covered by the photo-resist film 7is removed by ECR (electron cyclotron resonance) plasma in chlorineenvironment. Accordingly, the distance (depth) from the upper ends ofthe contact holes 31 and 32 to the top of the titanium/titanium nitridestacked thin film 6 is also 400 nm.

The etching process of the photo-resist film 7 and the etching processof the titanium/titanium nitride stacked thin film 6 described above maybe replaced as follows.

After the photo-resist film 7 is baked at approximately 200° C., thephoto-resist film 7 is etched back to the upper surface of the glass 5by oxygen plasma, and then the photo-resist layer 7 in the contact holes31 and 32 and the titanium/titanium nitride stacked thin film 6 on theupper surface of the glass 5 and on the inner surfaces of the contactholes 31 and 32 are etched away. The photo-resist film 7 and thetitanium/titanium nitride stacked thin film 6 are removed to thesubstantially same depth because the etching rates thereof in thechlorine environment are substantially same.

Further, by making use of the fact that the etching rates of thephoto-resist film 7 and the titanium/titanium nitride stacked thin film6 in the chlorine environment are substantially same, after thephoto-resist film 7 is applied as shown in FIG. 2A, the photo-resistfilm 7 and the titanium/titanium nitride stacked thin film 6 may beetched to the inside of the contact holes 31 and 32 by the ECR plasma inthe chlorine environment.

In those case, the distance from the upper end of the contact hole 31 tothe surface of the photo-resist film 7 is made to be within the rangedescribed above.

Next, as shown in FIG. 2C, the photo-resist layer 7 serving asflattening layer and remaining in the contact holes 31 and 32 iscompletely removed by ashing or organic cleaning. Thus, thetitanium/titanium nitride stacked thin film 6 remaining on the bottomsurfaces and portions of sides of the contact holes 31 and 32 isexposed.

As shown in FIG. 2D, a tungsten seed (not shown) is selectively andthinly grown on only the titanium/titanium nitride stacked thin film 6remaining in the contact holes 31 and 32 by using a tungsten CVD device,and a tungsten layer 8 is selectively grown only in the contact holes 31and 32 by using the titanium/titanium nitride stacked thin film 6 as theseed for the selective growth at 75 sccm of tungsten hexa-fluoride, 450sccm of hydrogen, temperature of 450° C. and pressure of 80 Torr, wherethe “sccm” is a unit of flow rate representing a volume (cc) flowing inone minute under a standard condition.

The tungsten layer 8 is grown from the surface of the titanium/titaniumnitride stacked thin film 6 and completely fills the contact holes 31and 32. Since the depth of the titanium/titanium nitride stacked thinfilm 6 is defined as described above, both the contact holes 31 and 32may be simultaneously filled before the top of the tungsten layer 8grows beyond the openings of the contact holes 31 and 32. Namely, byproperly selecting the growth time of the tungsten layer 8, the tungstenlayer does not spread out of the contact holes 31 and 32 and thetungsten layer 8 may be formed only in the contact holes 31 and 32.

Further, since the diameter (width) of the contact hole 31 is400−50×2=300 nm when the titanium/titanium nitride stacked thin film 6is formed and it is smaller than that of the contact hole 31, it isfilled with the tungsten layer to the center before the contact hole 31is completely filled by the tungsten layer 8. However, since thetitanium/titanium nitride stacked thin film 6 is recessed byapproximately 0.4 μm (400 nm), a gap of 0.4−0.3/2=0.25 μm remains atthis moment between the opening portion of the contact hole 32 and thetop of the tungsten layer 8. Further, since the recess depth from theopening portion of the titanium/titanium nitride stacked thin film 6 ofthe contact hole 32 is same as that of the contact hole 31, the depthfrom the top of the tungsten layer 8 is also 0.25 μm. Thereafter, whenthe tungsten layer 8 has been grown to 0.1 μm, the contact hole 31 isfilled to the center and the tungsten layer 8 is further grown by 0.15μm to fill both the contact holes 31 and 32.

As shown in FIG. 2E, a stacked metal wiring 11 comprising a titaniumfilm 9 and an aluminum alloy 10 is pattern-formed. By those processes,the upper and lower wirings are connected with a good characteristic andwithout short-circuit.

In the present embodiment, a semiconductor device having the connectionbetween the substrate and the first layer metal wiring and theconnection between the first layer metal wiring and the second layermetal wiring has been shown although the present invention may be usedfor any other connection between wiring layers.

In the present embodiment, although the titanium/titanium nitridestacked thin film 6 is used as the underlying layer to grow the tungstenlayer 8, other thin film material may be used for growing the tungstenlayer 8. For example, instead of the titanium/titanium nitride stackedthin film 6, a tungsten film, a tungsten silicide film, a molybdenumfilm, a molybdenum silicide film, a poly-crystalline silicon film, anamorphous silicon film or a germanium film may be used. Further, a metalsilicide film, a metal film, a nitride conductive film, a silicate, asemiconductor thin film or silicon (amorphous silicon orpoly-crystalline silicon) which allows the selective growth of thetungsten layer 8 may be used.

In the present embodiment, the tungsten layer 8 is used to fill thecontact holes although a metal film which allows the selective growth byusing the underlying film as the seed, for example, an aluminum film oran aluminum alloy may be selectively grown instead of the tungsten layer8.

The film thicknesses and the forming methods are not limited to thosedescribed in the embodiment and various modifications may be made bythose skilled in the art within the scope of the technical concept ofthe present invention.

In accordance with the present invention, the plug such as the tungstendoes not spread out of the opening portion of the contact hole when theplug is selectively grown in the contact hole and the inferior wiringshape and the inter-wiring short-circuit are avoided.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for manufacturing a semiconductor devicehaving an insulation film, comprising the steps of: forming a contacthole in said insulation film; forming a first conductive film on asurface of said semiconductor device including an inner surface of saidcontact hole; applying a film for filling said contact hole; etchingsaid applied film until a distance from an opening portion of saidcontact hole to a surface of said applied film is equal to at leastone-half of a width of said contact hole, less twice a thickness of saidfirst conductive film; etching said first conductive film by using saidapplied film as a mask; removing any remaining applied film; selectivelygrowing a second conductive film to fill said contact hole by using saidfirst conductive film remaining on the inner surface of said contacthole as a seed for selective growth; selecting a growth time of saidsecond conductive film in conjunction with the distance from the openingportion of the contact hole to the surface of the applied film; andrestricting a growth of the second conductive film to only be on saidinner surface of said contact hole.
 2. A method for manufacturing asemiconductor device having an insulation film, comprising the steps of:forming a contact hole in said insulation film; forming a firstconductive film on a surface of said semiconductor device including aninner surface of said contact hole; applying a film for filling saidcontact hole; etching said applied film until said first conductive filmappears; etching said applied film and said first conductive film untila distance from an opening portion of said contact hole to a surface ofsaid applied film and an end of said first conductive film is equal toat least one-half of a width of said contact hole, less twice athickness of said first conductive film; removing any remaining appliedfilm; selectively growing a second conductive film to fill said contacthole by using said first conductive film remaining on the inner surfaceof said contact hole as a seed for selective growth; selecting a growthtime of said second conductive film in conjunction with the distancefrom the opening portion of the contact hole to the surface of theapplied film; and restricting a growth of the second conductive film toonly be on said inner surface of said contact hole.
 3. A method ofmanufacturing a semiconductor device having an insulation film,comprising the steps of: forming a contact hole in said insulation film;forming a first conductive film on a surface of said semiconductordevice including an inner surface of said contact hole; applying a filmfor filling said contact hole; etching said applied film and said firstconductive film until an opening portion of said contact hole is at adistance equal to at least one-half of a width of said contact hole,less twice a thickness of said first conductive film, measured from saidsurface of said applied film and an end of said conductive film;removing any remaining applied film; selectively growing a secondconductive film to fill said contact hole by using said first conductivefilm remaining on the inner surface of said contact hole as a seed forselective growth; selecting a growth time of said second conductive filmin conjunction with the distance from the opening portion of the contacthole to the surface of the applied film; and restricting a growth of thesecond conductive film to only be on said inner surface of said contacthole.
 4. A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device according toclaim 1, wherein: said step of forming a contact hole includes a step offorming a plurality of contact holes having different widths; and saidstep of etching said applied film includes a step of etching saidapplied film until an associated distance from an opening portion ofeach of said plurality of contact holes to the surface of said appliedfilm is equal to at least one-half a value obtained by subtracting twicethe thickness of said first conductive film from a largest width of theplurality of contact holes.
 5. A method for manufacturing asemiconductor device according to claim 2, wherein: said step of forminga contact hole includes a step of forming a plurality of contact holeshaving different widths; and said step of etching said applied film andsaid first conductive film includes a step of etching said applied filmand said first conductive film until an associated distance from anopening portion of each of said plurality of contact holes to thesurface of said applied film and the end of said first conductive filmis equal to at least one-half of a value obtained by subtracting twicethe thickness of said first conductive film from a largest width of theplurality of contact holes.
 6. A method for manufacturing asemiconductor device according to claim 3, wherein: said step of forminga contact hole includes a step of forming a plurality of contact holeshaving different widths; and said step of etching said applied film andsaid first conductive film includes a step of etching said applied filmand said first conductive film until an associated opening portion ofeach of said plurality of contact holes is a distance, measured from thesurface of said applied film and the end of said first conductive film,one-half of a value obtained by subtracting twice a thickness of saidfirst conductive film from a largest width of the plurality of contactholes.
 7. A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device according toclaim 1, wherein: said first conductive film includes one of atitanium/titanium nitride stacked film, a tungsten film, a tungstensilicide film, a molybdenum film, a molybdenum silicide film, apoly-crystalline silicon film, an amorphous silicon film and a germaniumfilm; and said second conductive film includes one of a tungsten film,an aluminum film and an aluminum alloy film.
 8. A method formanufacturing a semiconductor device according to claim 2, wherein: saidfirst conductive film includes one of a titanium/titanium nitridestacked film, a tungsten film, a tungsten silicide film, a molybdenumfilm, a molybdenum silicide film, a poly-crystalline silicon film, anamorphous silicon film and a germanium film; and said second conductivefilm includes one of a tungsten film, an aluminum film and an aluminumalloy film.
 9. A method for manufacturing a semiconductor deviceaccording to claim 3, wherein: said first conductive film includes oneof a titanium/titanium nitride stacked film, a tungsten film, a tungstensilicide film, a molybdenum film, a molybdenum silicide film, apoly-crystalline silicon film, an amorphous silicon film and a germaniumfilm; and said second conductive film includes one of a tungsten film,an aluminum film and an aluminum alloy film.
 10. A method formanufacturing a semiconductor device according to claim 1 furthercomprising the step of forming on said insulation film a thirdconductive film to be connected to said second conductive film.
 11. Amethod for manufacturing a semiconductor device according to claim 2further comprising the step of forming on said insulation film a thirdconductive film to be connected to said second conductive film.
 12. Amethod for manufacturing a semiconductor device according to claim 3further comprising the step of forming on said insulation film a thirdconductive film to be connected to said second conductive film.
 13. Amethod for manufacturing a semiconductor device according to claim 2,wherein: said step of etching said applied film includes a step ofetching said applied film by oxygen plasma; and said step of etchingsaid applied film and said first conductive film includes a step ofetching said applied film and said first conductive film by ECR(electron cyclotron resonance) plasma in chlorine environment.
 14. Amethod for manufacturing a semiconductor device according to claim 3wherein said step of etching said applied film and said first conductivefilm includes a step of etching said applied film and said firstconductive film by ECR (electron cyclotron resonance) plasma in chlorineenvironment.